Last month I picked up this beast at a garage sale for less than 20 bucks, 
it is missing one of the handles which I will have to replace. In the condition that it is somewhat less than 5 out of 10. Big wish. I wonder how I can change the stupid cheap handles to a nice vernier movement. The biggest problem this thing has going against it is that the clamp handle is at the rear of the vice. The second problem is the axis is sloppy.
Now let's see the fixes that I will do...
- Take it apart all the way. All of the hardware on it (nuts and bolts) will be replaced by Allen Cap-head bolts with nuts and the new hardware should have black oxide.
- Sand the 4 shims (for the ways), and make sure no burs, bumps, etc.
- Reverse the direction of the clamp bar, and modify the bar as in Fix the Orientation, the Flopping clamp handle. See videos 2, 3
- Re-assemble with new hardware, and grease the three lead screws. Adjust the lead screw collars.
Videos
